Berchem, Joachim van (ca. 1520-1574)

Joachim van Berchem, a well-to-do baronet of Berchem near Antwerp, married Clara, the daughter of David Joris, about 1544, and soon afterward moved with his father-in-law to Basel. Several members of the van Berchem family joined the party: Joachim's mother, Anna van Etten, widow of Johan van Berchem, his brother Renatus (Reinhart), and his sister Anneken. Already in Belgium they had all been ardent followers of David Joris, and in Basel, where, until David's death in 1556, they lived in some luxury, they were faithful members of the secret congregation of David Joris. When it was found out that the wealthy citizen Johann von Bruck was the arch-heretic David Joris, and when his corpse was exhumed and burned (May 1559), the van Berchems were all imprisoned; they were, however, soon released upon their confession of repentance.